Arrests break up cellphone store burglary ring, police say

Two men arrested following a high-speed pursuit and a chase on foot are part of large theft ring that has targeted cellphone stores, Roseville police said Monday.

Lamont Louis Travis, 22, and Christopher Saunders, 27, both of Detroit, were arraigned on charges breaking and entering a building, breaking a safe, possession of burglar tools, and resisting/assaulting a police officer, police said.

Two other people eluded police in the chase that began after the burglary Sunday morning at the Radio Shack store in the Eastgate Shopping Center, on Gratiot Avenue, south of 11 Mile Road, police said.

Shortly after a burglary alarm sounded at the store at approximately 7:30 a.m. Sunday, police received a tip that four people fled the store and headed west on Interstate 94 in two vehicles, Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said.

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A motorist who phoned police reported that the drivers of a gray Volkswagen and a tan Chevrolet Trailblazer exited the freeway at Morross. Roseville police officers spotted the vehicles at Morross and Lansdowne. The drivers split up and fled at a high rate of speed, Berlin said.

Police chased the Volkswagen for several blocks in Detroit but broke off the chase for safety reasons, the chief said. Witnesses to the chase told police that suspects in the Volkswagen parked and exited the vehicle, and were trying to enter a home on Carrie Street.

“They were pounding on the front door. We don’t know if they had friends there or what,” Berlin said.

“They saw us coming and took off on foot.”

Detroit and Roseville officers chased the suspects for several blocks and eventually found them hiding inside the locked yard of a business. Officers arrested the two men, identified as Saunders, who also is known as Jaron Lovell Smith, and Travis, both of Detroit.

Inside the Volkswagen, officers confiscated approximately 50 cellphones and a cash drawer that were stolen from the Radio Shack.

The two people in the Trailblazer remain at large, police said.

Investigators are confident the culprits are part of a large-scale burglary ring operating in southeastern Michigan. Officials are conferring with other law enforcement agencies to determine whether the arrested suspects are responsible for so-called “smash and grab” incidents at cellphone stores reported in Warren, St. Clair Shores, Canton Township, Livonia, Troy and Detroit.

“They specifically want the high-end cellphones,” Berlin said.

Judge Marco Santia of the 39th District Court set bond for Saunders at $200,000 cash or surety. Travis was held on $100,000 bail.

Anyone with information about Sunday’s incident or the burglary spree is asked to call the Roseville Police Department at (586) 447-4483.